Lo Blacklock is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. She lives and works in London as a travel journalist at Velocity, under high-powered boss Rowan, and though she has high ambitions, she has resigned herself to doing menial labor in the hopes of an eventual promotion.

The novel opens after Lo comes home from a night of drinking. Her house is burgled that night, and the intruder steals her technology and purse and slams the bedroom door in her face, trapping Lo in her bedroom. Lo is traumatized from the incident, and suffers from acute flashbacks and insomnia after it occurs. The event also causes her to lash out physically and emotionally at boyfriend, Judah, who has just returned from a work trip in Russia. Despite this trauma, Lo leaves on a work trip. She will be covering a luxury cruise run by businessman Richard Bullmer, which will travel through the fjords of Scandinavia. Lo is ambitious, and sees this trip, which she is only covering because Rowan is on maternity leave, as the next stage in her burgeoning career.

Once on board, Lo struggles due to insomnia, drinking, and trauma from the days before to focus on schmoozing with the other journalists and financiers aboard the ship.